return to Due South: season 1 episode 21 "Victoria's Secret, part 2"

[fox]

Victoria's Secret part 2
air date May 11, 1995

Scene 1

PAUL GROSS'S VOICE: Last week on due South . . .

A hurricane lamp falls and breaks and ignites the liquid that has been spilled on a cabin floor.

In his office, Fraser hangs up his phone.

FRASER: Your cabin burned down last week.
BOB FRASER: Well, I don't use it much anymore.

Fraser is walking on a sidewalk with Mr. Mustafi's vacuum. A woman steps off the sidewalk into a building. Fraser gets a glimpse of her face and pushes through the crowd to keep following her. She has long, dark, curly hair. He is in a lobby with an atrium; Vecchio catches up with him.

VECCHIO: What's going on?
FRASER: Nothing. I just thought I, ah — thought I saw a woman I used to know.

Fraser is looking out his kitchen window. Diefenbaker whines. Fraser turns around, smiles sadly at him, and shakes his head.

FRASER: It wasn't her.

He closes his eyes and thinks back. In his mind, he woman whose face he saw comes slowly up the stairs, looking right at him. At home, he opens his eyes and begins to smile hopefully. In his mind, she stands looking sadly at him. She knits her brow at him; we see her ask "Why?"

Fraser is in a confessional.

FRASER: Oh, well, I guess I'm not really sure if I saw her, or I just wanted to see her. Maybe I saw her because she's the one person I can't face.
FR. BEHAN: Why?
FRASER: She drove the getaway car.

Fraser is in a diner with Bob.

BOB FRASER: You did your duty. That's all you could have done.
FRASER: She's the only woman I ever loved, and I put her in prison.

Through the diner window, he sees the woman getting out of a taxi across the street. A bus goes by and he doesn't see her anymore. The cab is about to drive away. He jumps up and runs out of the diner. He jumps over a couple of parked cars and runs in traffic. He leans in the taxi driver's window at a red light.

FRASER: Where is she?
CAB DRIVER: What?
FRASER: [grabs the driver's lapel] The woman who was in this car. Where'd she go?
CAB DRIVER: [points a gun at him] Get your hands off me. [The light turns green.]
FRASER: [as the cab pulls away] Did you not have a woman in this cab?

He tries to run alongside the cab, but it is gone. He's standing in traffic. He looks around.

He bumps into the woman in the vestibule of the diner.

WOMAN: Hi.
FRASER: [He can't believe it.] Hi.
WOMAN: It was you. I thought I saw you standing in the middle of the road. I, I — I wasn't sure if I was just seeing things.
FRASER: No, that, that, that was me. I was, ah — [Someone else comes into the diner and goes between them.] I was standing in the middle of the road.
WOMAN: I, I, I never thought I'd see you again.

Fraser answers his apartment door. It is Victoria. He is glad to see her, but she is unhappy.

VICTORIA: [She comes into the apartment and pushes him. He doesn't resist.] How could you do that to me, huh? [He bumps back into his kitchen wall.]

He kisses her mouth. He helps her get her coat off and kisses her neck. He kisses her mouth again. It starts to snow.

Huey and Gardino and Welsh are playing pool in Vecchio's living room.

WELSH: So where's the big red one?
VECCHIO: I think he got himself a mystery woman.

Victoria slips a couple of twenties into Fraser's wallet.

Fraser is talking to a guy trying to sell him a fake soapstone carving.

FRASER: I'm afraid that all I have is, ah — [He finds much more cash than he thought he had in his wallet. He looks back toward Victoria's hotel.]
VENDOR: You're a gentleman. Thank you, sir.

Vecchio knocks on Fraser's door. Fraser kisses Victoria's shoulder and sits up; she snuggles further under the blanket.

VECCHIO: Three's a crowd, huh, Dief?

Fraser pulls his pants on and goes to answer the door. He is putting a shirt on as he opens it.

FRASER: [surprised to see Vecchio] Hi.
VECCHIO: What's tonight, Benny?
FRASER: Oh, I'm sorry. [He offers Vecchio the cash he owes him.]
VECCHIO: Like this makes a difference? [He takes it roughly.] So is she in there?
FRASER: Yeah. Sorry, do you want to — you want to meet her?
VECCHIO: Nah, don't do me any favors. Wouldn't want to embarrass you anyway. [He turns and leaves.]
FRASER: Ray.

Vecchio is in the car pulling away. Fraser runs after him. A guy in the window across the street from Fraser's place is still there smoking.

A gun fires.

Fraser bursts into his apartment to find it has been ransacked. He looks around; Victoria is gone; Diefenbaker has been shot. He listens for Diefenbaker's heartbeat.

GARDINO: Just two sets of prints, if you discount the — heh — paw marks. [Fraser smiles stiffly. Vecchio glares.]

Fraser traps Victoria in her hotel's revolving door.

FRASER: Where are you going?
VICTORIA: Just let me go, please.
FRASER: I want to know what happened.
VICTORIA: Jolly's out.
FRASER: Come on.

He takes her hand and her suitcase, and they run.

Fraser and Victoria are at the zoo, in a tunnel in the polar bear viewing area. He is looking through a window, watching a bear swim.

VICTORIA: They never found the money we stole. Over half a million dollars. So when I got out, I went to find it.
FRASER: And you had no intention of giving it back.
VICTORIA: It wasn't there. I just assumed that Jolly got there first. He thinks I did.
FRASER: And you told no one?
VICTORIA: I'm not exactly a trusting person. People tend to let me down.
FRASER: Not this time.

Victoria is in Francesca's room at Vecchio's house.

VICTORIA: I appreciate what you're doing.
VECCHIO: I hope so.

Vecchio turns over a soggy, burned box of Canadian cigarettes and sees something written on the inside flap.

VECCHIO: Oh my God.

Victoria is on the phone at Vecchio's house.

VICTORIA: What, what's, what's going on?
FRASER: [on the phone] He's got your address. Get out of the house. Go someplace public — the zoo.

Victoria turns around in the polar bear viewing area. Jolly is there. She gasps.

JOLLY: I thought you wanted to see me. [He grabs at her.]

Fraser and Vecchio are hurrying through the reptile house. Victoria runs behind a waterfall and slips and falls on the wet stones. Jolly catches up to her. He grabs her and holds her out over the edge, threatening to drop her over the waterfall. He pulls a large knife. Fraser swings down through the waterfall and kicks Jolly off Victoria and back against the wall.

FRASER: Run!

Victoria runs. Fraser and Jolly fight.

JOLLY: I shoulda known it was you.

Jolly knocks Fraser over the ledge and down the waterfall to the pool below. Jolly runs out of the zoo and back to his car. He gets in, and Victoria is already in the passenger seat.

JOLLY: Come to your senses, have you?
VICTORIA: A long time ago.

She produces a gun in her gloved hand and shoots him dead.

I feel like this "previously on" is a little better than the one for "Chicago Holiday part 2." It wasn't "last week on due South" as the voice over says, though; it was an hour ago. It seems strange to me to have pilot movie–style credits on part 1 and then regular episode-style credits on part 2 in the same evening, but if you're going to do that, you could at least have him say "previously" or "last time" or something.

Credits roll.

Paul Gross
David Marciano
Beau Starr
Daniel Kash
Tony Craig
Catherine Bruhier

(plus Lincoln the dog)

Melina Kanakaredes, Denis Forest, Shay Duffin, Lee Purcell, Joe Lisi, Deborah Rennard, and Gordon Pinsent as Fraser Sr.

We've subtracted Ramona Milano as Francesca from the opening (guest) credits, but kept in Denis Forest as Jolly, even though Jolly's dead; I guess because Jolly appears in the previouslies and Francesca doesn't? So we can conclude Francesca will not appear at all in part 2? Jury's out on Fr. Behan, therefore, and we've added three other guest players we haven't seen yet. Plus Pinsent is credited "and/as" in a regular episode-style credit sequence for the first time (he's previously been "and/as" in the pilot and part 1 and "as" in regular episodes, while other big gets have been just "and").

Scene 2

At the zoo, a crime scene team is looking at Jolly's car. Vecchio is talking to Huey and Gardino.

VECCHIO: Okay, thanks. [He goes over to where Fraser has a blanket wrapped around his shoulders.] Ah, they're still looking for a weapon and a witness.
FRASER: Anybody see anything?
VECCHIO: Mm-mm. Come on. [They start walking back to the car.] After Victoria left you, did you see where she went?
FRASER: No.
VECCHIO: She'll probably try to contact you.
FRASER: If she thinks Jolly's still after her, I don't know. [They reach the car.]
DR. PEARSON: Don't even ask. You'll see it tomorrow.
FRASER: Anything you can tell us will be a great help. It's very important.
VECCHIO: And personal.
DR. PEARSON: There's a small stab wound to the abdomen and a single gunshot to the head. Single entry point, single exit. Close range. Two feet at the most.
FRASER: Walked right up to him.
VECCHIO: Nah, he didn't walk anywhere. Exit wound on the left?
DR. PEARSON: Mm-hmm.
VECCHIO: Whoever did this was sitting right there.
CRIME SCENE OFFICER: Got a bullet!

He is pointing to a hole in a tree trunk. Vecchio and Fraser go over to have a look.

Look, I know Fraser's had a rough day, but Vecchio said "They're still looking for a witness" and then Fraser asked "Did anybody see anything?" Come on, buddy. (And this isn't even the first time he's done that in this two-parter.)

Scene 3

The sky darkens from day to night. Vecchio drives Fraser home.

VECCHIO: She'll show up.
FRASER: [nods] Thanks, Ray.

He gets out of the car; Vecchio drives away. Fraser is about to go inside when he sees that Victoria is in the doorway of the billiards place across the street. Caption: "Victoria's Secret". He brings her upstairs.

FRASER: We have to get you an attorney. They're going to charge you for this until we find out who's done it.
VICTORIA: What is wrong with you? I did it! I shot the son of a bitch. He was trying to kill me. If he didn't do it today, he would have done it tomorrow.
FRASER: All right, then, then we'll plead self-defense.
VICTORIA: How? He was sitting right there. I picked up the gun and I shot him.
FRASER: You had a very real fear for your life. That's grounds for self-defense. Now, I'll go in, I'll talk to the state's attorney, pre-arrange bail —
VICTORIA: [laughs in his face] For murder? With my record?
FRASER: They haven't laid any charges yet. If you go in now, make a statement, I think you stand a chance. I know a very good attorney. We, we'll —
VICTORIA: Oh, I had a really good attorney last time. I still wound up with ten years.
FRASER: That was different.
VICTORIA: Was it really?
FRASER: Yes.
VICTORIA: Have you ever been in prison? Do you have any idea what it's like to watch your whole life go by? To watch everything you want go away and know that you can never get it back?
FRASER: You can't run away from this.
VICTORIA: Why not?
FRASER: Look, I promise you, I will do everything, I mean everything in my power to help you.
VICTORIA: You won't go away?
FRASER: Never. I won't let you down.
VICTORIA: Not this time. [She leans back against his kitchen wall.] Okay. Okay.

Her eye makeup is still impeccable, which may be the unlikeliest aspect of this whole thing.

We know, because we saw her shoot Jolly, that she didn't "pick up the gun" and shoot him; she had it with her, and she lay in wait in his car. She wasn't scared. But she's selling it pretty well to Fraser, and he's more than willing to buy it, because he really does love her (I'm convinced by his use of the pronoun "we")—as he understands love, at least. My epiphany in part 1 about his having hung around to support Victoria during Jolly's trial has softened me a little bit; I'm no longer digging in hard on for christ's sake Fraser you have known this woman for a cumulative 100 hours with ten years in between.

She got 10 years last time, which I think is actually the maximum for robbery of more than a thousand dollars assuming she didn't threaten or assault with a deadly weapon, kidnap, or kill anyone in the course of her involvement in that robbery—so I'm not sure on what basis Fraser told Vecchio she got a lighter sentence for testifying against Jolly, unless her good lawyer was the one convincing everybody she didn't threaten, assault, etc. but merely drove the getaway car. Also, that means the original robbery took place in or before 1985, when Fraser was just a wee baby Mountie in his early 20s.

How does he know a good defense attorney? He knows prosecutors, I assume, and he's met B.D. Morisot, Esq., who practices family law but is kind of shady.

Scene 4

Fraser and a defense attorney are in Welsh's office with Welsh and a state's attorney.

STATE'S ATTORNEY: Have you actually spoken to your client?
FRASER: Actually, I approached Ms. Boswell on her instructions.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: And she's willing to make a full confession?
DEFENSE ATTORNEY (MS. BOSWELL): Against my advice, yes.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: Deal's open till midnight.

Fraser and Ms. Boswell leave Welsh's office.

It was already dark when Fraser and Victoria agreed to do this. How quickly did he get Boswell in there? (Is this even the same evening?)

Scene 5

Fraser is on the phone at Vecchio's desk.

FRASER: Thank you, Mr. Mustafi. [He hangs up.] He knocked on the door. She's not there.
VECCHIO: Ah, she's probably on the way down.
FRASER: Yeah.
VECCHIO: You told her you'd call?
FRASER: Yeah. [He is fidgeting with a desk toy.]
VECCHIO: Yeah, maybe she got anxious. She'll be here any minute. [A uniformed officer arrives.]
FINGERPRINT OFFICER: We, ah, finally got a match on the second set of prints in your apartment.
VECCHIO: Yeah? Who, the corpse?
FINGERPRINT OFFICER: Uh, no, the prints were yours, Detective. Ah, yours and Constable Fraser's.
FRASER: Uh — no one else's?
FINGERPRINT OFFICER: Sorry.

Vecchio puffs air through his cheeks. Fraser thinks for a minute.

FRASER: You want anything from the canteen?
VECCHIO: No, thanks.

Fraser thinks for another minute, then gets up and goes to the break room. Vecchio looks at his watch.

How could Victoria's prints not be in the apartment, they are thinking. They don't know that she cleaned up after she and Fraser had dinner, and apparently did so very thoroughly indeed, removing any evidence that she'd ever been there.

Scene 6

Fraser goes into the break room. He gets some change out of his pocket and is about to start feeding it into a vending machine when he sees his father sitting at a table.

BOB FRASER: Hi, son. [He beckons him over.]
FRASER: [turns back to the machine] Where'd you find the new Stetson?
BOB FRASER: She's not coming, son.
FRASER: You don't know her.
BOB FRASER: Neither do you.
FRASER: I'm in love with her.
BOB FRASER: Doesn't mean you know her.
FRASER: [turns around to face him] Did you know Mum? I mean, did you know who she really was? Or did you know what you wanted her to be?
BOB FRASER: I knew who she was in her soul. That's what I loved.
FRASER: Come on, Dad, you weren't around long enough to call her by name. [a long pause] You know, I've got almost no memory of the two of you together.
BOB FRASER: Well, you were only six when she died, for God's sake. And don't tell me I didn't love your mother. I still do. I wrote her every damned day of my life.
FRASER: I know. I've read your journals. You write beautifully.
BOB FRASER: Well, no professional training, but —
FRASER: You want to know something? I mean, you never saw who — who she was. You never saw her when she was angry, you never saw her when she was frightened, you never saw her when she was brave or when she was petty — you never saw her.
BOB FRASER: Well, she was a good woman. She deserved better.
FRASER: No, she didn't. She deserved you. And I'm not going to make the same mistake. Victoria is in trouble. Now — she scares the hell out of me, I don't even know if I can help her, but I know I need to be here. And I know who she is. [He goes to leave the break room.]
BOB FRASER: Is it snowing out, son?
FRASER: What?
BOB FRASER: Is it snowing out?
FRASER: No.
BOB FRASER: No, I don't suppose it would be. It's almost summer. I don't know why I brought this coat.

Fraser goes.

This is quite a scene. In the first place, despite my slight softening, I think ultimately Bob is right that Ben doesn't really know Victoria well enough to be in love with her. But I also wonder how Ben knows so much about his parents' relationship given that he was only six when his mother died (there it is, we've got a date on "very young" now, knew it would come along sooner or later). I mean—we know Bob was born in 1937 and Ben in 1961, so Bob will have been about 24 when Ben was born (which is how old Ben was when he met Victoria, incidentally); he and his late wife can only have been married about five years before that at the most, right? If that long. But still, they were adults, so presumably they knew each other well enough to marry and have a child. But Ben has these very clear ideas about his father as a neglectful husband. He's had almost 30 years to refine and articulate those ideas, but they'll have had to have been planted before he was six. That's a lot for a little kid to know about his parents' marriage, isn't it?

But furthermore: All of this is in Ben's mind. Everything Bob believes is in Ben's mind as well. I think that's what the "is it snowing/don't know why I brought this coat" stuff is about. When Ben met Victoria, it was in the middle of a days-long snowstorm; he keeps imagining snow around her even in the present day, when it's the middle of May in Chicago and definitely, observably, not snowing. So the Bob who appears to him now has this winter coat because Ben is caught up in his head in the dead of winter. So also on some subconscious level, Ben knows his father loved his mother even though he neglected her and knew he should have done better; and on some subconscious level Ben understands that he doesn't know Victoria as well as he thinks he does.

Scene 7

Elaine stops Fraser on the stairs.

ELAINE: There you are. I just got off the phone with your consulate. They said a Sergeant Mears has been trying to reach you. He called a dozen times. [She hands him a message.]
FRASER: Thank you.
ELAINE: Where is the four-oh-three area code?
FRASER: The Yukon.

Area code 403 was originally Alberta, the Yukon, and the western NWT. The territories were changed to area 867 in 1997, but it was not inaccurate in 1995 to say it was the Yukon—just that it could have been Alberta or half the Northwest Territories also.

Scene 8

In the bullpen, Fraser is on the phone listening to a busy signal. He looks over at Vecchio, who is also on the phone.

VECCHIO: Yeah, thanks.

Fraser hangs up. The phone rings immediately; he answers it.

FRASER: Detective Huey's desk. [Fraser looks over at him.]
VECCHIO: I just got off the phone with ballistics. The bullet that killed Jolly came from a thirty-eight. They matched it to another slug. [Fraser looks away.] Whoever shot him also shot Diefenbaker.

Fraser hangs his head and then hangs up the phone.

I cannot convey how much I adore Vecchio for calling Fraser at Huey's desk to deliver this news, so Fraser can look away and have the distance he needs, rather than coming over (or beckoning Fraser over) to tell him to his face.

And: Well, this is getting worse and worse, isn't it. Every step forward with the ground softening under their feet, they're also having to look back and see how it's been wobbly under there for a lot longer than they'd thought.

Scene 9

Fraser is frantically unlocking his father's foot locker. He opens the case for his service revolver; it is empty.

VECCHIO: Don't you keep this trunk locked?
FRASER: Yes.

He opens a box of ammunition and finds that six bullets are gone. He begins to reassess everything he has been thinking. Vecchio's phone rings.

VECCHIO: Vecchio. [He listens for a moment. Fraser looks up at him.] Uh, yeah. Yeah, I understand. I'll be right in. [He hangs up.]
FRASER: Did they find her?
VECCHIO: [heavy sigh] Internal Affairs wants to speak with me.

IT WAS FRASER'S GUN. Am I right that we are now ready to say holy shit? Do the boys understand by now that the wheels are all the way off the wagon?

Scene 10

Victoria is at the train station with two suitcases. She puts them in adjacent lockers and smiles in satisfaction at the two keys.

Scene 11

Vecchio is in an interview room at the station. Two guys from Internal Affairs are there; one has a sort of paisley necktie and one has a solid black one.

PAISLEY TIE: Vecchio, you want a cup of coffee?
VECCHIO: No, I'm good, thanks.
PAISLEY TIE: So you and Fraser, you're pretty close, huh?
BLACK TIE: Best buddies?
VECCHIO: Best buddies. Yeah, right. We like to play stickball together after work. What the hell is this all about?
PAISLEY TIE: He ever tell you why he came to Chicago?
VECCHIO: Yeah, he came for the pizza. Now, is this about him or is it about me?
PAISLEY TIE: Heh. Well, actually — [Welsh comes in.]
WELSH: How are you doing, Detective?
VECCHIO: What the hell is this all about, Lieutenant?
WELSH: Sorry, it's out of my jurisdiction.
PAISLEY TIE: Yes, it is, Lieu, so if you'll excuse us?
WELSH: But Malner gets to stay. [He shows someone else in and starts to go.]
PAISLEY TIE: Oh, and why is that, exactly?
MALNER: [gives them a card] David Malner, Police Protective League.
BLACK TIE: Did you call an attorney, Detective Vecchio?
WELSH: Yes.
VECCHIO: Did I?
WELSH: Yes.
VECCHIO: Do I need one?
WELSH: Yes.

Welsh closes the door.

Oh boy.

Scene 12

Fraser is on the phone at Vecchio's desk. He is speaking to the same sergeant who called to tell him his father's cabin had burned down.

FRASER: I'm not following you.
SERGEANT: We found it in a metal box buried under the floorboards in your father's cabin.
FRASER: How much?
SERGEANT: Ten thousand dollars. We did a routine check on the serial numbers. The bills are from a robbery in Alaska a few years back. It was one of your cases.
FRASER: I remember. [Welsh and Gardino walk up.]
WELSH: Constable. I hate to have to do this, but we're going to have to ask you some questions in an official capacity.
FRASER: I understand, sir.
SERGEANT: Ben, ah, you realize, of course, I'm going to have to share this information.
FRASER: Yes, sir. [He offers Welsh the phone.] Staff Sergeant Mears, RMCP.

Welsh takes the phone.

Yeah but so okay: Why is Mears calling from the Yukon (or from the 403 area code at all) about Bob Fraser's cabin, which—well, I suppose the cabin didn't have to be anywhere near where he was shot, from which place you could go two thousand miles to the northwest and still be in Canada. Bob could have his cabin all the way up there on the left if that's what he wanted. But the rest of the pilot episode certainly strongly implied that Bob was living near the dam that was built wrong but was supposed to energize so much of the eastern seaboard. Fraser got around between that cabin and areas near the dam and so on in a single day, mainly on foot. I suspect this is the point at which I have to begin to accept that Fictional Canada is a different place than Real Canada.

Scene 13

Back in the interview room with Vecchio and the guys from IA.

VECCHIO: What kind of money?
PAISLEY TIE: This kind. [He lays three 20s on the table.] Notice the serial numbers.

In another interview room with Fraser, Gardino, and the state's attorney.

STATE'S ATTORNEY: The money was never recovered from the robbery. Suddenly starts appearing a few days ago, only in Chicago, not Alaska. [She puts a printout in front of Fraser.]
GARDINO: A sharp teller noticed some mint condition pre-eighty-five twenties. He checked the hot list and called it in. We notified some other banks in the area, and more started showing up.

In Vecchio's interview.

BLACK TIE: Deposit records. Small retailers, mostly in the same neighborhood. [He puts a printout in front of Vecchio.]

In Fraser's interview.

STATE'S ATTORNEY: You live at two-twenty-one West Racine?
FRASER: Yes.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: You rented a movie from Video Duo?

In Vecchio's interview.

VECCHIO: I don't know those places.
PAISLEY TIE: You know Ricci Cleaners? It's a block from your place. Cheryl there told us you gave her this. [Vecchio looks at a twenty-dollar bill.]

In Fraser's interview.

STATE'S ATTORNEY: You usually pay for everything in cash? [Fraser is looking at a twenty-dollar bill; he tosses it on the table.]

In Vecchio's interview.

VECCHIO: She must have slipped him the money without his knowledge.
BLACK TIE: Oh, yeah, beautiful women are always slipping me money.

Let's call that the first round of quick-cut interviews. I'm not totally positive how these banks and retailers can positively say which customers paid with which of the 20s in their register, but if they all said yeah, he paid with a really crisp twenty-dollar bill, I can concede the circumstances don't look great. And probably too many people handle cash to make it a good source of fingerprints, right? (Fraser does usually pay for everything in cash, though. I've yelled about that before; I don't think that's as incriminating an item as this state's attorney seems to want it to be.)

Scene 14

In Fraser's interview.

FRASER: [sighs, looks at the ceiling] Victoria Metcalf.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: So you were alone together for a week after the robbery? What did you talk about?

In Vecchio's interview.

PAISLEY TIE: Let's say he knows where half a million dollars is stashed, and let's say he knows the bad guys are going away for a long time.
VECCHIO: You don't know this guy!

In Fraser's interview.

STATE'S ATTORNEY: Do you own a handgun, Constable Fraser?

In Vecchio's interview.

BLACK TIE: This guy comes back for his money, I'm not going to be left with a lot of choices.

In Fraser's interview.

FRASER: It's a standard RMCP issue.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: That would make it a thirty-eight?

In Vecchio's interview.

PAISLEY TIE: Did he report it stolen?

In Fraser's interview.

GARDINO: He said there was nothing missing.

Fraser smiles slightly and bites his lip.

Holy shit, it doesn't take long for this to get very, very bad. And none of the adversaries in these interviews has said a single thing that isn't true, nor have they been especially a jerk about it. (See above re the judge in "The Wild Bunch," by the way; we know Fraser and Vecchio and Willie were right about Diefenbaker, but the thing is the judge was also not wrong, and it was right that the show didn't present him as a villain, because he was looking at the facts in front of him and drawing a perfectly reasonable conclusion—which is exactly what this prosecutor and these IA guys are also doing.) I don't know what "this guy comes back for his money" is supposed to mean, but other than that.

Gardino has never particularly gotten along with Vecchio and Fraser, but he is really uncomfortable noting that Fraser said there was nothing missing from his apartment (okay, point: what Fraser said was that there didn't appear to be anything missing—and there didn't; the trunk was still locked at that time); he knows this doesn't seem like Fraser, but he has to answer the question truthfully. Oy vey. And Fraser does that slight smile! Which you know and I know means "hoo boy, this is all sure coming together in a way I'm not enjoying," but which could perfectly reasonably look to the state's attorney like it means "well, Detective Gardino, aren't you clever."

The fun continues.

Scene 15

In Vecchio's interview.

VECCHIO: He didn't shoot the guy.
PAISLEY TIE: You saw the shooting?

In Fraser's interview.

FRASER: She ran because she was frightened.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: This is the same woman who spent three days in your apartment without leaving a print?

In Vecchio's interview.

PAISLEY TIE: Has anyone else seen this woman?
VECCHIO: There were a lot of people.
PAISLEY TIE: Can you name one?
VECCHIO: Yeah. Me.
BLACK TIE: Do you mind if I look in your wallet? [Vecchio gets out his wallet.]

In Fraser's interview.

STATE'S ATTORNEY: [puts Victoria's mug shot in front of Fraser] Is this her?
FRASER: Yes.
GARDINO: She's dead, Fraser.

In Vecchio's interview.

PAISLEY TIE: Two months ago. Automobile accident.

Paisley Tie and Black Tie close their folders. In their respective interview rooms, Fraser and Vecchio are both looking pretty strained and unhappy.

There's the cleaning-the-kitchen payoff: It's not just as if she was never in his apartment, she's pretending she was never in Chicago at all. (Didn't she touch anything at Vecchio's house, though? Francesca's bed frame? The phone?)

Scene 16

Several dark-haired white guys are lining up in a lineup. Gardino is number 3; Fraser is number 4.

GARDINO: Sorry about this.
FRASER: It's all right.
VENDOR: Number four.
WELSH: Take your time.
VENDOR: Hey, the guy gave me a twenty for a piece of soap.
WELSH: Thank you. [He shows the soap vendor out and calls the next witness.] Mr. Dewey? [as they are going back into the lineup viewing area] Would you take a careful look at these men. If you have any doubt whatsoever —
MR. DEWEY: [before the door even closes] Number four.

I'm liking Gardino in this episode. He gets up in Vecchio's face a lot of the time, but now that the shit is hitting the fan, he's showing that he's not a bad guy. I mean: Again, that only works because we all know Victoria is real and Fraser is innocent. Gardino's instinct is to believe his colleague in spite of this heap of accumulating evidence (circumstantial though it is!) against him. I have no doubt the Gardinos of the real world would also insist their brother officers were framed or misunderstood or what have you, and we'd all be livid about it, and we'd be right! In fact it is wrong for Gardino to assume Fraser is innocent! But here we are watching a cop show, where our heroes are cops and the cops are the heroes, so it is what it is. Anyway: Nice work, Kash.

Scene 17

Vecchio and Fraser are sitting at Vecchio's desk. Huey and Gardino are in Welsh's office.

VECCHIO: So this is what it comes down to. We're hanging by a thread, and Huey and Louie hold the scissors.

Welsh closes his blinds. The IA guys and the state's attorney are in his office also.

WELSH: This is nonsense. Two witnesses saw the woman at the zoo.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: There is no woman. She's dead. Everybody involved with the robbery ends up dead, and Fraser ends up with the cash.
PAISLEY TIE: Which he shares with his good friend Ray.
GARDINO: Sir, I know that Vecchio's a real weasel and all, but he's a straight-up cop.
PAISLEY TIE: [scoffs] You don't seriously believe that, do you?
GARDINO: Oh, yeah. Serious weasel.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: We have ten thousand dollars in Fraser's cabin, a motive, an opportunity, and a thirty-eight that's conveniently missing. I want an arrest.
WELSH: And I want a murder weapon.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: Lieutenant, you are allowing your personal feelings to interfere with your judgment —
WELSH: You're damned right I am.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: Suspend Vecchio. Maybe he'll roll on him.
WELSH: For a couple of twenties?
BLACK TIE: We have possession and possibly conspiracy to commit murder.

Everyone starts shouting.

WELSH: That is not going to stand up in court.
PAISLEY TIE: Harding.
HUEY: I don't believe this.
PAISLEY TIE: This is not your call. Suspend him. That's it.

Welsh is very unhappy.

Augh, it is very uncomfortable when the bad guys are being more reasonable than the good guys!

Scene 18

Vecchio and Fraser are still sitting at Vecchio's desk.

VECCHIO: And I thought this woman was gonna come between us.
FRASER: Things aren't what they seem, Ray.
VECCHIO: She set you up, Fraser. She slipped you bad money, and then she scrubbed her prints from your apartment and she stole your gun. Dief must have been trying to stop her.
ELAINE: I talked to the police in Alaska concerning the death of Victoria Metcalf. It was a car accident. Sounds like it was pretty gruesome. Went off a cliff. Third-degree burns over ninety percent of the body.
VECCHIO: I'm guessing they didn't use dental records for identification purposes.
ELAINE: No need. They had a positive ID by the sister. The body was cremated.
FRASER: Thank you.
VECCHIO: She identified her own body. That's pretty gutsy.

The state's attorney and the guys from IA are leaving Welsh's office.

WELSH: Vecchio. Get in here.

Vecchio gets up and goes into Welsh's office. Fraser sits pensively at Vecchio's desk and then continues to fidget with the desk toy.

Vecchio's tone tells us that Fraser still wants to believe it's Victoria who is being misunderstood. Vecchio clued in way up there in scene 13, "She must have slipped him the money without his knowledge." (He sounds slightly admiring rather than disgusted when he says identifying her own body was gutsy. Nice choice.)

Do we think Victoria's sister died in a real car crash and Victoria seized the opportunity to switch identities with her and come ruin Fraser's life? Or do we think Victoria killed her own sister so that she could kill her own identity and come down to Chicago under the radar and ruin Fraser's life? Answers on a postcard.

Fraser still thinks she ran because she was scared; he is not yet prepared to accept that she set him up. Because he doesn't actually know her. Oh, Fraser.

Scene 19

VECCHIO: Is Constable Fraser under arrest, sir?
WELSH: No, but tell him not to leave town.
VECCHIO: Thanks for sticking up for him, sir.
WELSH: Detective Vecchio, I have to ask you for your shield.
VECCHIO: Sir?
WELSH: You're on suspension. Effective immediately.
VECCHIO: [gets out his shield and puts it on Welsh's desk] Anything else, sir?
WELSH: I'm sorry.

Vecchio leaves the office. Welsh puts his shield in a desk drawer.

Scene 20

Vecchio comes by his desk and grabs his coat.

VECCHIO: Let's go.

Fraser grabs his jacket and hat and follows him. Huey and Gardino come to the door of Welsh's office.

HUEY: Weren't you supposed to ask for his weapon as well?
WELSH: Was I? Detective Huey, get a picture of this deceased Metcalf woman and bring it around to all the shops where the money was passed.
HUEY: Yes, sir.
WELSH: Detective Gardino, get the crime scene squad over to Vecchio's. Dust it from top to bottom. If she was there I want prints, hair, nail clippings, anything. You guys searched the parking lot at the zoo for the murder weapon?
GARDINO: Every inch.
WELSH: Good. I'll do it again.

Welsh grabs his coat.

THANK YOU, Lieutenant! (Although if she can scrub every last print from Fraser's apartment, I don't see why she couldn't scrub every last print from Vecchio's place too.)

Scene 21

Fraser and Vecchio are at Victoria's hotel. Music cue: "Fumbling Towards Ecstasy" by Sarah McLachlan.

RECEPTIONIST: No one by that name.
VECCHIO: Take another look.
RECEPTIONIST: Sorry.

They leave by the revolving door.

FRASER: I dropped her off in the lobby. She must've been waiting at the cab when I came back.
VECCHIO: This woman really has it bad for you, doesn't she?

Mr. Dewey, who identified Fraser in the lineup, is looking at Victoria's mug shot. He takes off his glasses and looks more closely, then shakes his head.

HUEY: Thank you.

All the fear has left me now
I'm not frightened anymore

Fraser is looking in the window of the diner where he bumped into Victoria in the vestibule. (It advertises that it takes Vista. Blue and orange logo. Heh.) The place is locked; a sign on the door says "CLOSED DUE TO DEATH IN THE FAMILY."

It's my heart that pounds beneath my flesh
It's my mouth that pushes out this breath
And if I shed a tear, I won't cage it
I won't fear love

A crime scene team is examining Vecchio's house. A fingerprint tech brings Gardino a print to look at. Gardino is unhappy.

And if I feel a rage, I won't deny it
I won't fear love

Vecchio comes out of the telephone company building to where Fraser is waiting morosely in the car and hands him a printout.

VECCHIO: Phone calls from my house. Look at yesterday, three o'clock. [Fraser does.] Five-five-five seventy-three-thirty-three. She called Jolly twenty minutes before we got there. She didn't leave anything to chance. [He pulls out of his parking space.]

Companion to our demons
They will dance and we will play
With chairs, candles, and cloth
Making darkness in the day
It will be easy to look in or out
Upstream or down without a thought
And if I shed a tear, I won't cage it

A man in a dark coat is in St. Michael's. He goes into a confessional, where he is uncomforable.

MAN IN A DARK COAT: You some kind of religious freak?
VICTORIA: [on the other side of the screen, in large sunglasses and a blonde wig] Do you have the diamonds?
MAN IN A DARK COAT: One-twenty-eight Water Street, and you come by your lonesome.
VICTORIA: I'm not coming at all. My partner will handle the exchange.
MAN IN A DARK COAT: Smart move. Let your partner know, if anything goes wrong, there's no place to hide if we want to find him.

I won't fear love
And if I feel a rage, I won't deny it
I won't fear love

Welsh is at the zoo watching the polar bear from the tunnel viewing area. He sees something; then he is with a zookeeper fishing something out of the pool. The polar bear does not want to let go of the basket.

(Instrumental bridge.)

Fraser is at the animal hospital visiting Diefenbaker. He reaches through the bars to pat his nose. Welsh, Huey, and Vecchio arrive.

Peace in the struggle
To find peace
Comfort on the way
To comfort

WELSH: How's he doing?
FRASER: Much better. [He sees the evidence bag in Welsh's hand.] You found the gun.
WELSH: Constable, I'm about to ask you if this is your weapon. Before you answer, would you like to have a lawyer present?
FRASER: [shakes his head] No, sir. That is my weapon.
WELSH: I'm sorry. Detective Huey, would you read Constable Fraser his rights, handcuff him, and take him downtown.

Fraser looks at Vecchio. Vecchio looks determined and sort of proud of Fraser, in a way.

And if I shed a tear, I won't cage it
I won't fear love

HUEY: Are the cuffs really necessary?
WELSH: He's being charged with first-degree murder. Please handcuff him.

And if I feel a rage, I won't deny it
I won't fear love

Fraser stands up and holds his hands behind his back.

HUEY: I'm sorry, Fraser.

Huey starts putting the cuffs on Fraser. Fraser looks up and sees Bob, in dress uniform, his eyes blazing, his heart breaking.

FRASER: It's your duty.

Huey walks Fraser out, followed by Welsh, followed by Vecchio, who looks back at Diefenbaker before he goes.

I won't fear love
I won't fear love
And if I shed a tear, I won't cage it
I won't fear love

Diefenbaker whines.

BOB. BOB FRASER. THE LOOK IN BOB FRASER'S EYES WHEN BENTON FRASER IS BEING HANDCUFFED. I CAN'T TAKE IT.

I have a couple of other things to say about this montage, such as Why are Fraser and Vecchio asking the hotel receptionist if anyone by that name has checked in, haven't we established that Victoria must be using an assumed name because she identified her sister's body as Victoria Metcalf, get with the program, fellas, show her the picture and It is extremely convenient for Victoria that there was a death in that diner owner's family, what, could the writer's room not come up with one more track for her to cover and What makes her pick St. Michael's for her meeting with the diamond guy, did Fraser tell her he'd gone to talk to the priest there about her or was that just a coincidence, but mainly, yes yes yes I'm sad for Gardino and Huey and Welsh and Vecchio and Fraser but mostly Diefenbaker AND BOB. 💔

Scene 22

Vecchio is in the visiting room at the jail where Fraser is being held. Fraser comes out in a jumpsuit. [late edit: No, I guess it's just the long-sleeved white shirt he sometimes wears under his uniform. As you were.]

VECCHIO: I put together your bail. You should be out within the hour.
FRASER: You can't do that, Ray. It's too much.
VECCHIO: Hey, the judge may consider you a flight risk, but I don't.
FRASER: But you don't have that kind of money. You'd have to mortgage your house.
VECCHIO: You going to skip on me?
FRASER: No.
VECCHIO: Then there's nothing to worry about. I'll meet you out front.

He hangs up the phone and leaves the jail. His father comes out from around a corner to walk with him.

MR. VECCHIO: You'll never see that money again.
VECCHIO: Pop, I'm warning you. Stay out of this.
MR. VECCHIO: I leave you my house. This is what you do with it?
VECCHIO: Don't you have things to do in hell or wherever you are?
MR. VECCHIO: Purgatory. For my sins, I've got to watch you make stupid mistakes. And who gave you permission to use my pool table?
VECCHIO: Give it a rest, Pop. [He goes out past the state's attorney, who is waiting in the front.]
STATE'S ATTORNEY: Have you considered the offer, Detective?
VECCHIO: There's no need. Answer's the same.
STATE'S ATTORNEY: Your friend is going down, and you're this close to going down with him.
VECCHIO: Let me tell you something. You can go to hell. And if you need directions, you can get them from the guy who's following me.

He leaves the jail.

So if the dead dads are subconscious aspects of the guys' own minds—and I continue to believe they are, which makes Bob's heartbreak in the previous scene even worse—then for all his "nothing to worry about" bravado, Vecchio does indeed have his doubts about mortgaging the house to get Fraser out on bail. (But none at all about telling the state's attorney to go to hell.)

Scene 23

Vecchio and Fraser pull up at Fraser's building.

VECCHIO: Sure you don't want to get something to eat?
FRASER: No. Thanks anyway.
VECCHIO: We will find her, you know.
FRASER: You should take the deal.
VECCHIO: I haven't been offered one.
FRASER: You should take it anyway. [He starts to get out of the car.]
VECCHIO: Hey, Benny. [Fraser looks back.] Not in your lifetime.

Fraser nods. Vecchio nods. Fraser gets out of the car and goes inside.

Vecchio lies to Fraser's face, but it's okay just this once, because they are literally the best friends ever.

Scene 24

Fraser is in his kitchen. He gets a double handful of candles down from the cabinet and places lighted candles all around the apartment, in the windows, everywhere. It's not enough. He gets down more candles, all of them.

BOB FRASER: What are you doing?
FRASER: Go away.
BOB FRASER: She's not coming back to you. And why in God's name would you want her to?
FRASER: Because. [He starts to cry.] Because I — because I need — oh, God.
BOB FRASER: You're not going to get it. Sometimes in life all you need is that second chance, and it's the one thing you're not going to have.

Fraser weeps at the window. There is a knock at the door. He hurries to answer it, full of hope.

MR. MUSTAFI: You, ah, done with my power drill yet?
FRASER: [still drying his eyes] Ah, no, I'm sorry, I haven't had a chance —
MR. MUSTAFI: That, that, that, that's okay. Uh, there's a woman on my telephone for you.

Fraser runs to Mr. Mustafi's apartment.

Oh, Fraser. (See, Bob is his subconscious: He knows deep down that Victoria is bad news, even though he hates knowing it.) He is wearing the blue henley again, by the way, so either he's got an extremely limited wardrobe or he's trying to re-create that cooking-and-movie-watching date in every last detail, like a bro who has to wear his lucky underwear on game day. Or both. Oh, I say again, Fraser.

This is probably as good a time as any to say that for all his many talents, I don't like how Paul Gross cries. The moment in "The Wild Bunch" when Fraser started to break down, I'd have found more compelling if it had cut right before his lower lip started to quiver. I saw Gross play Hamlet that time he played Hamlet, and it was pretty good, except I didn't care for how after the funeral scene, Claudius and Gertrude and everybody did their exeunt and Hamlet threw himself on the floor and gave the "too, too solid flesh" soliloquy as a literal fist-banging foot-kicking tantrum. (That's the director's fault, not the actor's, but I feel like an actor who sobbed more convincingly might have sold it better.) This scene right here isn't bad crying—but it's not great, and it's best when he's covering his face with his hand. It's not that he doesn't look good when he cries, although he doesn't, especially (but who amongst us does?); it's that he doesn't look to me like he's crying. It doesn't read for me.

Whoo, I've been holding onto that for a long time. Feels good to get it off my chest.

Scene 25

Fraser is on Mr. Mustafi's phone.

VICTORIA: You go through the store to the back room. If you don't come alone, I won't be there. And Ben. Bring some quarters.

She hangs up. Fraser thinks hard about what to do.

Speaking of directors, Fraser's pensive moment is filmed with exactly half his face visible and the other half hidden behind a wall, which is, like, Deep, man.

I was about to be all excited like Hey! Mr. Mustafi can confirm that Victoria exists!, but he can't, can he, because he hasn't seen her, and neither has the woman to whom Vecchio said "He's got a woman in there;" Mustafi just knows Some Woman is on the phone. Victoria's too good at this.

Scene 26

Fraser goes through an adult bookstore to the back room. There are more doors back there; he tries them until one opens. He goes in; it is a peep show booth. He feeds a quarter into a slot. The window opens; Victoria is there.

VICTORIA: Hi.
FRASER: You must really hate me for what I did.
VICTORIA: Yeah. Hate. Love. Those two emotions about cover it.
FRASER: The girl in the car wreck was your sister.
VICTORIA: She borrowed my car. The police just assumed it was me. I had an opportunity. I took it. Fooled everybody.
FRASER: Except Jolly.
VICTORIA: Except Jolly. There were only two ways to end that relationship. One of them was with me dead.
FRASER: What do you want, Victoria?
VICTORIA: You.
FRASER: No, you don't.
VICTORIA: Why do you think I did all of this?
FRASER: Revenge.
VICTORIA: Maybe. But I need you. I want you to go away with me.
FRASER: You know I can't do that.
VICTORIA: Why not? You don't have much to stick around here for. You won't like prison.
FRASER: I'm sorry.
VICTORIA: I'm sorry, too. Because I need you to make an exchange. If you don't, there's a key. This key fits a locker. In this locker is twenty-five thousand dollars in sequentially numbered bills. The key is at your friend Ray's house. You have one hour to decide, and then I call Internal Affairs and tell them where to find it.

The time on Fraser's quarter is up and the window comes down. Fraser runs out the door and around to the entrance to the booth where Victoria was sitting; he kicks that door down, but she is already gone. He bursts out the back door of the place into an alley. He runs.

I still think she's lying about her sister, because I think she's lying the whole time. How quickly her voice hardens after she says "I'm sorry, too;" I don't think a single word of any of it is true (except "You won't like prison").

Scene 27

Fraser busts down the door to Vecchio's house.

FRASER: RAY!

He turns on a lamp, then completely ransacks the Vecchios' house looking for the key. He dumps out drawers, pulls plants out of their pots, just wrecks the place. Someone has been there before him, but he makes it worse. He pulls down curtains and overturns knickknacks. The key is in a snow globe; he doesn't see it. He is about to move on, but he turns his head. The phone rings. He runs to answer it.

VICTORIA: You know, you never should have introduced me to your friends.
FRASER: I'll do it.
VICTORIA: I do love you, you know.
FRASER: Where do I go?
VICTORIA: There's a car parked in the alley behind the strip club. The money's in the trunk. One-twenty-eight Water Street. And Ben? If you don't come back with the diamonds, I'll make the call. [She hangs up, then immediately picks up and makes another call.] Internal Affairs, please.

She is not waiting for him to come back with the diamonds! Fraser! Don't do it! She's double- (or some multiple-, I've lost count by now) crossing you!

Scene 28

At the animal hospital. Fraser visits Diefenbaker, who is sleeping; then he tucks a note addressed to Ray into the bars of Diefenbaker's cage.

Wait wait wait, leaving a note in Diefenbaker's cage is what Fraser would do if he were not expecting to see Vecchio again, which, WHAT.

Scene 29

Fraser opens the trunk of a car. It has a trash bag in it full of bundles of 20s. He closes the trunk, gets in the car, and starts to drive. As he's pulling out of the alley, a woman comes up to the driver's side window.

WOMAN: A man just stole my purse. Can you help me, please?
FRASER: No, ma'am, I'm afraid I can't.

He drives off and leaves her crying.

So we've noted how Victoria makes Fraser behave Not Like Himself; now that transformation is complete. How can he not help this woman? How can this be?! We are Obi-Wan Kenobi seeing Anakin Skywalker turn to the Dark Side. We are Short Round begging Indiana Jones to wake up from his possession by Kalima. (Maybe Fraser is just telling this woman he can't help her because he doesn't have the time, but I don't think so.) Ugh. FRASER. Get it together, bro.

Scene 30

Fraser drives to 128 Water St. The man in the dark coat who met Victoria in the church pours out some diamonds to show Fraser; he and his buddy, keeping a gun nearby, compare the serial numbers on the cash to a list from the bank robbery. The buddy whispers something to the man in the dark coat.

A MAN IN A DARK COAT: You think I'm a fool?
FRASER: No, I think you're a criminal.
A MAN IN A DARK COAT: You think we wouldn't check the serial numbers? You could've come to me, told me your problem. I could've given you some value for what you have. Maybe twenty cents on the dollar. But you got greedy. I warned your partner. She didn't seem to place too much value on your life, does she?
FRASER: Apparently not. [He ties up the bag of diamonds.]
A MAN IN A DARK COAT: Keep one diamond. Give the rest back to me.
FRASER: No, I'm afraid I have to take them all.
A MAN IN A DARK COAT: You know what? I've changed my mind. You can't keep any.

The man reaches into his coat for his gun. Fraser flips the table up in his face and runs. The buddy fires. Fraser crashes through a window. The bad guys go down the stairs. Fraser jumps and lands in the street as a car drives up. He gets up and gets in the car; Victoria is driving.

VICTORIA: Show me. [The bad guys shoot out the back windshield.] Show me! [Fraser pours the diamonds out into his hand.] Very nice. Now don't drop them. [She drives off.]

Internal Affairs is arriving at Vecchio's house. Victoria and Fraser are speeding through the streets.

FRASER: They're going to come after us.
VICTORIA: Not me, sweetie. [He can see a pair of plane tickets in her bag. She turns over the bag's top flap.] Put them in here.
FRASER: You made the call, didn't you?
VICTORIA: No loose ends.
FRASER: What about me?
VICTORIA: You're going with me, right?
FRASER: No.

She rolls her eyes, pulls a gun and points it at him, and hits the brakes.

I think what's happening here that she agreed to buy these diamonds but the diamond guys don't like that the cash she's paying with is obviously stolen (that is, identifiable as coming from that bank heist in the 80s). She, of course, wants to be rid of that cash and carry her wealth in diamonds, which are not traceable. It turns out Fraser knows she was lying about not calling IA if he appeared on time with the diamonds, but he couldn't exactly not appear on time with the diamonds with that threat hanging over him. I can't imagine whose name she put on those tickets, but in 1995 flying was a whole different ballgame than it is now; shit, at that time you could still go meet people at the gate, couldn't you? (Obviously that changed after 2001, but I feel like there was an intermediate change before that—I just can't remember when.)

Anyway, if she means it about not leaving any loose ends, it looks like she's going to require Fraser to come with her or she's going to kill him. I don't see how she kills Vecchio, though. If she's content to just ruin his career, why not stop at ruining Fraser's career but leave him alive?

Scene 31

At the Vecchios', the guys from Internal Affairs rush to where Victoria told them they'd find the key. Paisley Tie finds the snow globe shattered on the floor.

BLACK TIE: No key.
PAISLEY TIE: Damn.

That's right, our boy did find the key in the snow globe. Attaboy, Fraser.

Scene 32

Victoria skids the car into a pile of boxes. She has Fraser at gunpoint. He is sitting calmly.

VICTORIA: Put 'em in the bag.
FRASER: [palms the key into the bag along with the bag of diamonds] That Ray's backup gun?
VICTORIA: No loose ends. Open the door.

He looks at her. She raises her eyebrows. He opens the door and scoots partway out, positioning himself so she can shoot him in the face and he'll fall backward out of the car like she wants. He looks at her. She cocks the gun. After a moment she pulls him in and kisses him, then pushes him away.

VICTORIA: Get out of the car.

She kicks him out rather than shooting him and drives away. He gets up and runs hell for leather after her.

It sure looks like he's ready for her to kill him, doesn't it? The look on his face looks to me like "I can't stop you from doing this, but I'm sure not going to do it for you." But then when she doesn't kill him, he's right back in it.

Scene 33

At the train station. People are walking around the concourse.

LOUDSPEAKER: Train to New York now departing. Train to New York now departing.

Victoria goes to the lockers and tries to open one, but her key doesn't work. She is struggling with it when a guy comes up and flirts with her.

TRAIN STATION GUY: Hi. Is there a problem?
VICTORIA: No.

Vecchio's car screeches up outside the station. He jumps out just as Fraser runs up.

VECCHIO: Backup's coming. She better be here.
FRASER: She's here.

They run inside. At the lockers, the train station guy is mansplaining to Victoria.

TRAIN STATION GUY: Here's your problem. You got the wrong locker.
VICTORIA: What?
TRAIN STATION GUY: [opens the other locker] Easy to get confused. [She searches frantically in her bag and comes up with the key she thought she was using in the first place. The guy tries to give her the suitcase from the locker the key did open.] Here's your bag, hon.
VICTORIA: It's not my bag.
TRAIN STATION GUY: Sure it is. It's your key.
VICTORIA: It's. Not. My bag.
TRAIN STATION GUY: It's your bag, because it's —
VICTORIA: It's not my bag!

She pulls her gun and the guy drops the suitcase and raises his hands. It bursts open, and bundles of cash fall out. Victoria sees Vecchio and Fraser arriving; she turns and fires at them. People scream and duck. She runs off toward the train platform. Vecchio and Fraser rush in, Vecchio with his gun drawn, to where people are picking up the bundles of money.

VECCHIO: Put it down, put it down, put it down.
FRASER: Wait for them. I'll go after her.

He rushes off after Victoria. Vecchio starts putting the cash back in the suitcase. Victoria reaches the train platform and runs along it.

I'm not sure I totally get the key thing. We saw him put the key, the one she had hidden and intended to blackmail Vecchio with, into her bag. But how could he be sure she'd grab that one and not the one she wanted, the one that opened the locker next to it, which presumably holds an ordinary suitcase with clothes and things in it (or, in the alternative, I suppose, a lot of nonsequentially numbered cash)? Given that she does find that other key also in her bag, this plan seems pretty risky. Shouldn't he have swapped the keys? Shouldn't he have seen the key nestled up next to the plane tickets (which would have been careless of her; of course she should have kept the thing in her bra or something) and switched them when he put the diamonds in there, leaving her the hot-money key and taking the safe-suitcase key and slipping it in his pocket or swallowing it or something?

Meanwhile, I suppose the note Fraser left in Diefenbaker's cage may have said (a) "Ray, here's what's going down, diamond buy, money laundering, sorry I tore up your house, there's going to be some stuff at the train station, meet you there" rather than (b) "Ray, thanks for bailing me out, but I'm turning to a life of crime after all". (Given Fraser's readiness for Victoria to kill him, either note may have included something like "I may not survive this but I want you to know you've been a wonderful friend," but I'm still going with -a- rather than -b-. Whew.)

A crowd is gathering to see what Vecchio is going to do with all that cash.

VECCHIO: Get out of here.

The people disperse. Victoria is running along the platform. Just as she is about to get on a train, Fraser catches up to her. He hauls her off the train; she drops her bag, and the diamonds scatter on the platform. She aims her gun at him.

VICTORIA: Pick them up.
FRASER: I can't do that.
VICTORIA: You son of a bitch, you set me up. I should have shot you. [The train starts pulling out.]
FRASER: And I should have let you go.
VICTORIA: Well, you're going to this time.
FRASER: [shakes his head] Sorry.

Vecchio and a uniformed cop finish getting all the cash back into the suitcase just as Welsh and the other detectives arrive.

VECCHIO: [to the uniform] Make sure you tag this. [to Welsh] She's armed. [The four of them head for the platform.]

Fraser calmly takes the gun out of Victoria's hand. She looks at the diamonds and then looks at him.

VICTORIA: Then shoot me, because I'm getting on this train. [He looks at her.] No? Okay. [She hops on the train as it moves.] Then come with me. [He looks at her.] Come with me! [He looks at her. The last car of the train rolls by.] You're going to regret it if you don't. [He watches her go.] Fraser! [He sees Vecchio and everybody arriving on the other platform.] Come with me!

He starts to run. She smiles. He runs faster. She is waiting for him. He is running; he looks over and sees Vecchio running along the next platform. He runs faster. He reaches for her. Vecchio's gun is drawn. Fraser is reaching for Victoria. Victoria is reaching for Fraser. A gleam of light reflects off the train near her hand as it goes by.

VECCHIO: She's got a gun!

Victoria is reaching for Fraser. Fraser is reaching for Victoria. He catches her hand. She pulls him onto the train. Vecchio fires.

Fraser's eyes go wide. Victoria looks at him. He looks at her. Huey and Gardino and Welsh catch up with Vecchio. Fraser looks at Victoria. He can't hold onto her. He falls backward. She is distraught. He lands on his back on the platform. She looks at him, anguished, as the train takes her away.

Everyone realizes Vecchio has shot Fraser. They are all horrified. They run to him. Victoria sees them reach him. Fraser is shocky as they arrive. He looks up and sees his father. Bob smiles reassuringly at him. Gardino runs off to call for an ambulance. Huey shouts for other officers, maybe to try to follow the train and apprehend Victoria. Fraser looks up at Vecchio.

FRASER: I should be with her.
WELSH: What did he say?
VECCHIO: He said "Get me to a hospital."

The train is all the way out of the station. Victoria closes her eyes, defeated, and goes into the train car from where she's been leaning out of it.

FRASER: [mumbling] I caught this morning morning's minion, kingdom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn falcon, in his riding of the rolling level underneath him steady air —
VECCHIO: I can't understand you. [He leans closer.]
FRASER: — rung upon the rein of —
WELSH: He's reciting a poem.

Fraser continues to mumble and whisper and gasp (off, off forth on a swing, as a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding) as he lies bleeding on the train platform. The wind howls; it begins to snow.

First things first: The only words that I find actually intelligible in what Fraser says are "daylight's dauphin." Fortunately, that's enough for Uncle Google to get us to "The Windhover," by Gerard Manley Hopkins:

To Christ our Lord

I caught this morning morning's minion, king-
     dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his riding
     Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
     As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and gliding
     Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, – the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
     Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

     No wonder of it: shéer plód makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
     Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold-vermilion.

Armed with "daylight's dauphin," I can see and hear that Fraser says "I caught this morning morning's minion" and confirm that this is the poem he's reciting; I'm then pretty confident about "steady air" and "rein of a" and "skate's heel," and after that the blowing wind takes over.

Of course this must be the poem that Victoria recited hundreds of times up at Fortitude Pass and kept them both from freezing to death. (I guess he did hear the words after all.) There is a ton of scholarship on Hopkins and this poem in particular, and it is not my intention at this point to do an essay on "The Use Of Hopkins' 'The Windhover' In The Penultimate Episode Of The First Season Of The Television Drama due South" or why Victoria or Fraser (or writer/director/creator Paul Haggis) chose "The Windhover" as the poem of survival. But here the poem is.

How, after all this, can Fraser think he should be with Victoria? He must be delirious. Of course he shouldn't. The fact that he was running to join her (only after he saw Vecchio and the others approaching!) is appalling. We are Sam Gamgee at the Crack of Doom when Frodo, after everything they've been through, stands over the fire and says "the Ring is mine."

I wish we could have spared Vecchio the experience of accidentally shooting his best friend in the back (an event, by the way, that makes his assurance back in scene 23 that he would never take the deal in Fraser's lifetime feel retrospectively extremely ominous), but holy crap, after everything she's put him through, and after promising (a) not to skip town when Vecchio mortgaged the house to bail him out, (b) not to go with her, and (c) not even to let her go, Fraser is doing all three of those things!, because this woman makes him not himself. . . . Is he thinking about North by Northwest? Recall that in that film, Eva Marie Saint is running a complicated double-double-cross, and Cary Grant saves her from the bad guys and the shot of him pulling her up by the hand off the side of a mountain cuts to a shot of him pulling her up into an upper berth on a train as they go off on their honeymoon. Victoria said she always wanted to be Eve Kendall, but is she actually Thornhill and Fraser is Eve Kendall? Does he think he was doing a complicated multiple-cross and she was only accidentally involved in the whole business from the start (because she was living with either Ed or Jolly and couldn't help being involved in the robbery but had no choice), and now they can escape together and live happily ever after? That would be a lot more of a tie-in to a referenced other film or etc. than we usually get, wouldn't it, but the train thing is too much for it not to be on Fraser's mind. It's wrong, though, because obviously she's not as innocent or accidentally involved as Cary Grant, and she's not ultimately on the side of "the good guys" like Eva Marie Saint, and she's not pulling him up onto that train to their honeymoon. He's a loose end she doesn't want to leave behind. She has said so. Good riddance to her.

I do not believe Victoria, who has called Fraser "Ben" twice where we could hear her, would call him "Fraser" as the train is pulling out of the station.

Anyway, also, I love Gardino in particular in this scene. Everyone is horrified, of course, but Huey and Welsh are, like Vecchio, looking at Fraser; Gardino is looking at Vecchio. And he's the one who runs to get help. Well done, Gardino.

Because we (I) have determined that Bob is Fraser's subconscious, I am interpreting Bob's appearance here not as Fraser thinking he's dying because he's seeing his dead father and going to join him but as Fraser knowing on some deep internal level that he's going to be okay.

I would still like it if they'd managed to have the snow land on Fraser and on the platform but not on Welsh or Vecchio.

Cumulative body count: 12
Red uniform: Does not appear in this episode

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